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Until a few days ago I had never paid more than $10 for a prescription drug. Then my doctor switched me to an extended release version of the same drug I had been taking, and the cost was $30. Three times cheap does not equal horribly expensive of course, but it is still triple the cost, so it caught my attention.
I do realize that talking drug prices is more about the medical coverage one has than about the actual prices of the drugs themselves on the open market. The prices cited above are my co-pays, and the $30 was for a three-month supply. Still, I used to get a three-month supply for $10.
I also realize that my topic may be of no interest to many folks because they are not on any prescription drugs, but I have a genetically substandard body in a bunch of respects and at 71 I have been on one drug since my 50's with a second one added four or five years ago. I don't like it, but it is what it is, namely a consequence of aging in my particular case. But I feel like a freak of nature.
Beware new drugs that are expensive and yet do not prolong life or increase quality of life. A scam? Search for proven generic drugs with a long history of safety and effectiveness.
If it's expensive question your doc. Why do you need this particular one? Will anything cheaper still work? Could you go back to your old medication and take half in the morning and half in the evening?
SO is allergic to penicillin. He had a dental infection and the dentist wrote him a scrip for 20 erythromycin capsules. We went to fill it and the pharmacist told us it would cost $290.00. Whoa! That's an old drug that should be cheap. The pharmacist called the dentist and got a prescription for Keflex instead, a very reasonable $4. Fixed him right up!
Not to confuse things OP, but maybe you could switch your prescription to Walmart.com's Mail Home Delivery Service (found at Walmart.com)
because most of their drugs are $4 for one month or $10 for 3 months.
Delivery through the mail is completely free and they are very reliable. I've used them for years.
I do realize that many insurance providers and/or Part D plans have their own drug pharmacy providers like Humana's Rightsourcerx.com, but you can use both. I do.
Also for people who stand in line at a pharmacy, Walmart.com's Mail Home Delivery Service completely removes standing in any pharmacy lines.
I realize switching might not be worth saving the $20 x 4 equals $80 per year though.
Is your complaint for real? Or are you just trying to aggravate those of us who pay thousands of dollars per year even with prescription drug plans and even trying to use generics and the least expensive alternatives?
ER, if you had been following the ups and downs of prescription drugs the last several years, you'd know that their cost is about more than insurance.
I'm on 3 prescription meds - thyroid, statin, hormone. The 1st two are relatively stable in price but the hormone over the past several years has ranged from a co-pay of $40 quarterly to $280 quarterly - with no relation to our insurance plan (we've had several). It continues to this day to wildly fluctuate, in December the co-pay was $80.
DH and I have discussed this at length with our MD, pharmacist, and various insurance providers and long story short, it's all about how US drug companies follow a policy of chasing short term profits, complicated by US patent issues, which creates artificial shortages. These seem to be issues mainly in the US. Prices in other countries remain stable for the same drugs manufactured by the same companies.
I can afford and live with the wild cost fluctuations for my hormone med. The tragedy is that these same conditions affect life-threatening drugs.
Is your complaint for real? Or are you just trying to aggravate those of us who pay thousands of dollars per year even with prescription drug plans and even trying to use generics and the least expensive alternatives?
I am sorry about your situation, which is quite inconceivable to me. Indeed, my prices are quite reasonable. But my real complaint is not the prices but the bitter disappointment and humiliation I feel at being on prescription drugs. This is the first time I have been able to admit publicly to being on drugs, sort of like going to confession, I guess. Old age sucks big time.
I suppose the tripling of the price for the same drug in a time-release version was just symbolic of my frustration at being on the drug in the first place.
Since "Obummercare" became law, I can no longer get them unless I have shingles
DH can still get them on his traditional insurance for his shoulder.
I could get all the addictive pain killer pills I want on Medicare, if I chose to use them but I don't want them
What is wrong with that picture? They would rather see me addicted to drugs, than to provide something that is safe and works. I suppose in their stupid minds, my 68 year old self should have got rid of my horses and be sitting in a rocker with a blanket over my lap instead of keeping busy and retaining some muscle by mucking stalls.
150 years ago humans were only expected to live past 40 and if you were lucky maybe 50. 1000 years before that 35 years of age was extraordinary.
My doctor told me that the human body was never designed to age past 40. After that age the only reason that humans are living longer is because of the improvements in medicine and understandings of healthier life styles. He also told me that very few people in their 60's are not on any medication and that those people that never go to the doctor are under the impression that they have nothing wrong with them for that reason alone.
Pay attention to the stats on diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol and other chronic diseases. According to government estimates a large segment of the population has these but they add that at least half don't know they have it. The half that don't know they have these illnesses are also the same ones that don't get regular examines and are convinced that nothing is wrong with them.
I have been on BP drugs since I was 34 and cholesterol drugs since I was 40. Then in just the last 3 years I have been put on 2 other drugs. My monthly out of pocket is about $200 and that with private insurance in a gold plan. The insurance pays about half. Yes aging sucks and growing older is not for wimps.
I take two types of eye drops for glaucoma. They are necessary for maintaining the optic pressures at an acceptable level. One is covered partially by my part D plan, the other one is not. I recently changed my plan with AARP United Health going from Medicare United Healthcare with monthly premiums at approximately $184/medical plan F and $60/pharmacy plan D (I live in Syracuse, NY, so YMMV). The plan I have for this year is plan 3 with United Healthcare which combines medical and pharmaceutical coverage at $39/month. I have not had to use my insurance yet, so do not know what my meds will cost. I need a total of five prescription drugs (including the eye drops). I do know my medical co-pays.
There are many of us on SS and some of us have other sources of income. The income combined from these sources is not by any means generous for a lot of us. So in keeping with today's prices for food, etc., paying those prices for medical premiums plus drug co-pays can be pretty difficult. I myself have had to put them on my credit card which only adds to the overall problem.
I realize I am far from the worst case scenario. There are many who have it a lot worse.
And it does not sound like much is being done to correct the problem.
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